These elite officers from the Special Operations Command were greeted by amazed stares, being a little out of place among families eating at the food courts.

Tranquil, middle-class Serangoon Gardens is the state’s oldest residential community that once housed the British army and is now famous for its food.

Until now, about the only terror the diners have encountered here is a warden writing them a ticket for illegal parking.

And the policemen they have a chance to meet may be eating chicken rice at the next table.

For Singaporeans generally, Singapore’s anti-terror war is becoming increasingly visible as the protective ring tightens around potential targets.

Early this month, a 32-man specially trained police team began patrols of the Orchard Road tourist belt, commercial buildings and now residential estates.

A new training centre is already up to train some 6000 national service policemen over three years to guard vital locations.

A week ago, an exercise was held in a private condo for the first time to test preparedness against a chemical attack.

Residents in shorts and housewives with children in tow watched as the drama unfolded: The electricity is cut, the lift stops working and, as the gas is released, people without masks collapse. Decontamination and rescue teams move in.

As terrorist bombings rose around the world, security-conscious Singapore, which has been marked as a target, is feeling particularly vulnerable.

Singaporeans, who generally viewed it with detached interest, are beginning to feel that maybe they should start to worry.

The city has an advanced armed forces, but fighting a terrorist war is a totally different thing.

“We are an iconic target. If terrorists can mount a successful attack on Singapore, it will make headlines,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan.

One of these days, they would get through and there would be an attack, Tan added. “We should not let it devastate us. We will recover, life will carry on, but we have to be prepared for it.”

Several years ago, the government discovered a plan by Jemaah Islamiah to set off several bombs simultaneously against targets in Singapore and arrested 31 Jemaah Islamiah suspects.

It also put into place unprecedented measures to defend strategic targets that included embassies, commercial and government buildings and public transport.

High-tech equipment was installed at Singapore’s air, sea and land entry points.

Armed marshals started flying on certain air routes that could be targets.

Then steps were taken to protect “soft” targets including hotels, shopping malls, nightclubs, and places where foreigners go and, more lately, schools.

Last month, shopkeepers and taxi drivers were roped in to provide intelligence to the authorities if they encounter suspicious people.

Bus and train commuters are also asked to watch out for unattended parcels.

Citizens are urged to hold regular gatherings to get to know one another better.

“It will help you detect suspicious characters in your community,” a senior official said.

The special targets of the internal security agency are some 40,000 taxi drivers who have been asked to report on suspicious-looking passengers who ask unusual questions such as where to buy or rent cheap trucks, or where they can get combustible materials.

Shopping malls have themselves stepped up security. A random newspaper check on 10 of them showed the majority had increased the number of guards and stepped up patrols.

The public response was not too bad. Last year, the authorities received about 120 calls, or one call every three days, about suspicious people or vehicles.

“Such efforts increase our chances of busting yet another terrorist plot or attack,” Homes Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament recently.

The decision to use elite police to patrol popular, crowded places has been a cautious one after a lot of public relations work to avoid alarming citizens.

“It’s not in the culture to be so heavily guarded except maybe at the airport. It will take some time for people to feel comfortable,” restaurant owner Judie Scarpa told Reuters.

At the same time, the number of closed-circuit TV cameras (CCTVs) has increased in popular public places.

And, in the wake of a shocking attack on a Russian school, the government began to place two guards in each school, backed by a host of CCTVs.

These measures had been gradual rather than suddenly done in one big bang to avoid undermining public and foreign investor confidence or dramatically changing people’s lifestyle.

But there is no mistaking Singapore’s worry. For 39 years since independence, the city has been building itself up from a squatter colony to one of the world’s most developed cities.

A major terrorism attack could undo much of this and have an impact on the economy.

Getting young Singaporeans to take the threat seriously, however, is not an easy task.

After a long peaceful era of peace, many simply don’t think it will happen or, if it does, the government can handle it.

By involving the public to play a part, it hopes to convince its 4.25 million population that an attack will almost certainly be launched one day and, secondly, it is a long-term threat.

Observers note the terrorism war has already one side-effect on Singapore’s politics.

Firstly, the government can’t fight it alone; it needs the active participation of its citizens.

This has put paid to the old top-down authoritarian rule faster than any time-table. The new Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has to involve the whole country in it. To do that, he has to be open and responsive.

It is also a signal to Western-educated liberals that they can’t defeat terrorism by banning the use of CCTVs or the use of armed police in public places, criticised as a violation of human rights.

How do the educated young feel about global terrorism?

Dr Tony Tan, who was nicknamed “super security minister” recently, met 400 students from 17 junior colleges for a dialogue.

Their short answer: “Singapore will outlast terrorists.”

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com (e-mail: cnseah2000@ littlespeck.com )

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